Event planning can be a very complicated process. Whether it’s a small seminar for 15 people, a conference for 4,000, or a team building day for your colleagues, the same event organization steps come into play every time. Event managers are increasingly turning to technology to manage some or all of their event planning. This article examines some of the popular event software in use within the industry and discusses how it can benefit event planners and help run more profitable and efficient events.

Once the initial plan has been created and you know what your event is and where it will be, you need to manage your delegates. In order to get people to attend your event, there must be some form of event promotion along with targeted invitations. Once people know about your event, they should be able to register in an easy and hassle-free way.

Technology and events are coming together more and more, making it possible to automate some of the most time-consuming areas, like managing invitations. Using event software means event managers can spend more time on value-added areas like speaker management and press relations.

One of the most popular modern event software applications is e-marketing, which is the use of email to promote your events. Email marketing has quickly become a sophisticated event software tool and is now a valid and respected method of promoting your event and sending invitations. Email marketing has many benefits over traditional printed invitations;

• Email invitations save you time and money: there is no limit to the number of people you can send the electronic invitation to, and there are no invitation or contact fees. Using the “Forward to a Friend” feature means that your invitation can reach relevant people who are not in their contact lists.
• Event-related email updates: Attendees get automatic registration confirmations. You can even send automatic updates, reminders, and post-event follow-ups. Automating updates and reminders lets you get on with the more complex parts of running your event, safe in the knowledge that email technology is taking care of your delegates.
• Integrate your email marketing tool with your CRM or database: Email marketing tools can seamlessly integrate with your office systems and CRM packages. Integration with applications like Salesforce, Microsoft Office Outlook, Excel, Microsoft Dynamics, and ACT means you don’t have to duplicate data or manage your lists in two places—all your data stays exactly where it is, with email marketing tool integration electronic. directly without intervention from you or your IT department.
• Get instant reports: See who opened your email invitation, who deleted the invitation without opening it, who signed up, who paid, and more. View helpful event reports or export the data for further analysis, allowing you to constantly improve your invitations and messages, helping you improve results with every event.

Email marketing tools are now one of the most cost effective and sophisticated ways to promote your event. No other software tool allows you to monitor reactions to your invitation, send automatic updates, and update your CRM with relevant information. Taking these jobs off your hands allows you to focus on other aspects of event management, which means you get a more streamlined and efficient planning process, giving you a higher ROI on the events you manage.

Event software to manage online registration Once you’ve sent out your email invitations, you need to make sure delegates can easily register. Not only that, but as event managers, you need to make sure that you extract the vital information you need from every delegate that registers. The most effective way to manage this process is to allow delegates to register online through your own website.

There are many event software tools available that allow you to create customizable forms that integrate seamlessly with your website. Having delegate registration forms on your own site, rather than a third party, conveys a feeling of trust and respectable quality about your events. You don’t want to send delegates to a third-party site to sign up, as this removes your business website from the process and means you lose valuable website traffic.

Having fully customizable forms means you can create a custom registration process for each event you host. Some events may require only a name and contact details, while others may require specific information and even instant payment.

Can you accept payment online using your existing event process? Allowing delegates to pay online, using a secure system, instantly eliminates any subsequent payment hassles. The online payment software must offer a service that allows your delegates to choose their preferred payment method using a variety of leading online payment engines such as Worldpay, Protix, Google Pay, Paypal, etc., through one site. secure website. At the same time, reputable event registration applications must provide two-way integration from their internal finance application; allowing payment and invoice transactions to be filtered back into your account system.

Integrating your online web form with your CRM and financial systems means all data is captured and all systems are automatically updated. You no longer need to manage delegate information in a variety of spreadsheets; your CRM will be up-to-date, which means the latest information is always available to everyone who needs it.

If you host the same event regularly, you can set up your online registration as a template. All you need to do is change the date and you’ll be ready for your next event!

Using technology to manage your schedule can really help you save time and money. There are software applications that can provide you with these tools individually. Alternatively, you can invest in an all-in-one application that will provide you with a complete end-to-end event management software solution. These solutions help you manage all aspects, including:

• Website Integration – Integrate seamlessly with your existing website without the need to redesign or rebrand,
• Registration management: fully customizable online booking forms that ensure you capture the most relevant information from your delegates,
• Invitation Management: Comprehensive and easy-to-use integrated invitation management tool,
• Email Marketing – Powerful, integrated and fully functional email marketing tool that can send highly targeted email marketing campaigns to relevant delegate audience,
• Badge Production – Produce custom delegate badges before or during the event with ease,
• Resource Management – ​​Simply manage and assign all resources through a comprehensive calendar feature, giving you full control of all aspects of the event planning process.
• Payment Processing: Offering a variety of options to enable your delegates to pay securely online with confidence,
• Event Reporting – Determining the actual ROI of your event can be determined and managed through a powerful set of reports and analytics, allowing you to simply and quickly drill down into event data in seconds.
• Feedback and Survey Tools – An integrated and automated feedback management tool, allowing you to take advantage of your event opportunities right away.

If you regularly plan events, you can no longer ignore the benefits of event software. Whether you choose to automate just part of the process or use the benefits of a full event management software application, it’s up to you. Either way, any way that technology can eliminate some of the manual processes you go through when planning an event, results in a more streamlined and efficient event planning process, giving you a superior and more profitable final event.